week 92: Stuck without a bus

Transcription from Audio Letter. Sorry. No pictures. 

May 28, 2018

Hey Everyone, this is week 3 of transfer number 15. Another chilly, rainy day here in Licanten. Today we just had a really relaxed day. We got up (well we can't sleep in) but we didn't get up EARLY today. We just went to the gym a little later. We went to this little burger place that was really good. Cleaned the house super well. And that's about it. It's been really relaxed so far.

It's been a pretty good week. On Wednesday, I had a medical check up in Curico to get some blood work done. It's something, just some tests I have to get done every few months. But that meant we had to stay down in Curico all of Wednesday. So we arranged with the Zone Leaders to be working with them and it turned out that that day, out in another little town called Teno, there was a Book of Mormon Activity, which we did a couple months ago here in licanten. I don't know if you'll remember but I mentioned it. But basically we put up a table with these big old posters and talk about the Book of Mormon with people. Teno is a little, small town, a little more country, not nearly as much as Licanten, but kind of smaller place. There were a lot more people than in Licanten, but they weren't quite as...well they were pretty direct about not wanting anything. My favorite was that there was this line of people that were waiting for bread, because everybody buys their bread every day in Chile. So they're waiting outside the bakery and one of the missionaries went over and started talking to them and they were literally right in front of the table but they would say, "Nope. I don't want to talk to you." They'd say that they were busy, but they were literally just standing there in line. Or the other people waiting for the bus. But there were some good people...pretty receptive people. And the Zone leader surprised us there with...well they bailed in the middle of the activity and we were planning on going back to Curico to work with them in the night. But...so they just left one of them sent me a text and said, "Hey just so you guys know, you guys are going to stay here in Teno and accompany them to a lesson, so they can enter with this investigator." So we were like "Alright?" So the Teno Elders got ahold of some extra bikes and we rode out clear in the middle of nowhere...it was pretty far out...into the middle of nowhere. And we rode out there and it was pretty late, a little past 8:30. And it gets dark here around 6 o'clock now and so it was pretty dark. It was pretty cold. But we were all good. We got out there, had the lesson, and then came back. By the time we left the lesson it was 9:30 and we were pretty worried about being able to get back to Curico. We went and we were looking for a bus and nothing was passing by and nothing was passing by. I saw a guy waiting at a bus stop and we stopped a bus and asked the driver if there was a bus coming from Curico to Teno, and he said there were no more buses going from Teno to Curico. We were like, "Shoot. We're going to have to sleep on the ceramic tile floor of the house in Teno without any of our stuff...just in our proselyting clothes." So I was a little bummed about that. But we started riding back to their house, and coming the opposite direction, we see a bus. It had to have been the LAST bus. Well, supposedly there weren't buses passing by that hour, but it was going for Teno. So my companion and I basically jumped off our bikes, threw them to the side, waved goodbye to the other Elders and left them to take our bikes back to their house. But we got the bus. So we made it back to Curico and we took a taxi to the Zone Leader's House. So it worked out great. And it was good that we were able to have the lesson.

On Friday we had interviews with president Harris.  The training that the Zone Leaders gave during interviews was pretty good. I really liked it. It's been a little while since we've had one that I really enjoyed, so that was cool. And I had a really good interview with the President. Talked about some of the goals I have for ending the mission and he expressed a lot of faith that we were gonna be able to achieve those things. So I was pretty excited about that. It was one of my longer interviews that I've had in a little while, since I've had a really good interview like that.

So apart from that, this week's been pretty relaxed...well, actually, after the interviews we were working harder than ever. Relaxed isn't the word. But pretty normal. Nothing too exciting happening besides going out to Teno there.

We did find a family this week. Well last week, to backtrack, we passed by the local courthouse and they had brought (I think I mentioned this a couple months ago) there was a guy who had kidnapped a little girl and had her in the forest around Licanten for a little over a week. And they have the guy and they were doing his trial that day. They had like SWAT buses there and it was a big deal because it turns out the family of the little girl was trafficking drugs... a lot of really complicated stuff. Anyway, there were a ton of people there all gathered around the courthouse. So we went over to talk to some people and also see what was going on. And there was this lady who waves us over and I was holding a Book of Mormon and she was like, "Hey, can I have a copy of that book?" And I was like, "Of course," obviously. And so we gave her the book, got her address and the other day we taught their family. And they're really good. She's SUPER SUPER receptive and seems to understand pretty well as well, and we had another visit with them last night with the ward mission leader and they accepted a baptismal date for the 7th of July. I would love to see them baptized before I leave. But it looks like I'm probably going to be leaving June 26th, if everything I talked about with President and with what's happening, I'll probably be going to another sector for the last change of the mission. But they're really great. I'm really hopeful. If they really progress and they come to church, then we could move their baptismal date to a little closer. But they would have to attend every Sunday starting now. 

So I hope you guys are all doing well. I had a really good week. Ha, sorry for being so scatterbrained during the recording. But love you all.

As far as a spiritual thought goes, I read an article on Ministering that had some great references to listening. And that's a big thing with Preach My Gospel as well...there's a great section in there on Listening. And I really liked, I think it was James 1:19, which talks a little bit about that. So for my spiritual thought, go ahead and look that up. 

Well have a good week, guys. Take care! Bye!

Elder Olson

PS - Interesting add on to the story... Graciela who contacted us and asked for the book of mormon, has later told us that she can't read. The Spirit testifies of  the Book of Mormon to God's children in every circumstance.

week 90: Happy Mother's Day

Monday, May 14, 2018 (from audio transcription)

Hey everyone, this is week 1 of change number 15. It's probably going to be a pretty short recording. Not a lot of super crazy stuff has happened this week. 

We're here getting haircuts right now. So I figured I'd take advantage to make a quick recording. 

So this week, Elder Figueroa, my companion, went home. Well he goes home technically tomorrow morning, but he went up to Rancagua and he went to the temple in Santiago and then spent the weekend in Rancagua. So I've been with Elder Perry from Draper, here in Curico for the last couple of days. We made the trip to Licantén once, to attend church and everything because they need our help there. Elder Perry actually had to give a talk. It's not even his ward, but they made him do a talk in Sacrament Meeting. So it was pretty good. 

On, I think Friday, when we ate lunch with Elder Perry and the Zone Leaders, we were all eating lunch together and one of the Zone Leaders, his name is Elder Halverson, he told a story about how he had gotten flipped off that day in the morning by some guy driving. So he was laughing about it and it turns out we were overheard by some old lady and she didn't understand. And she asked her granddaughter who was there, "What is that? What does that mean?" And he was like, "No, it's just you put your middle finger up and.." And the lady was like, "Oh, like this?" And she started to give us all the bird and for probably about 20 minutes she probably flipped us off 20-30 times...and it was this little old lady, who's been a member for a few years. It was pretty funny. So that was something different that happened this week I guess. Haha.

In Licantén, in church on Sunday, I also gave a talk on the Mother's day theme, but the second counselor was directing the meeting and he gets up and he was like, "We'd like to give a special welcome to all the mothers who are here today." And there was this OLD grandpa, who's an aetheist but he comes to church sometimes because of his family there. So the counselor says, "We want to extend a special welcome to all the mothers today. Happy Mothers Day." And the old guy was like, "THANKS" (really low voice). And so like the counselors in the bishopric were trying not to laugh, and my companion was just dying in the front row. He was laughing so hard but trying to cover his mouth up. And I'm up at the piano trying not to smile too much. It was pretty funny though.

And then yesterday we had the chance to talk with the family, so that was awesome. It was probably the best video call, on my end at least. I really enjoyed it.

We found out the changes this week...the transfers. I am going to be staying in Licantén for another month and a half at least. I am going to be with Elder Garcia, from Mexico. So that'll be cool. He's pretty young in the mission. He's got under a year. He, from what I hear, is pretty reserved, pretty quiet. But Elder Figueroa was also a pretty reserved guy, didn't talk a ton. So that won't be too different. Things'll be pretty calm out there in Licantén. But it should be good. I'm excited to have a comp who's probably a little more willing to work this change. So this is going to be really cool. So I stayed in Curico last night and then tonight I'm also going to be staying here in Curico because we pick up my companion from the bus terminal tomorrow morning.

Our Zone got changed a little bit. They switched out a couple of the sectors and also closed one of the areas in our district so now we are only 10 missionaries in our zone which is very very few. So it should be a pretty different change, I think, from our last one and I think probably in a good way. I think we'll be a little more productive this next change, be a little bit more of a team with my companion so I'm excited for that. I'm excited to work. Ready to finish it out strong. Going into these last couple of months. 

Love you all. Hope you're all doing good. Hope everybody had a happy mother's day. take care. Bye!

Elder Olson

PS- A fun little Mother`s Day study for you all... HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Alma 53:13-14, 18, 20-21; 56:44-48, 56; 57:57

no electricity Sunday morning

I hear that flute Memes and videos are kind of the rage right now so enjoy a small musical number from Elders Olson and Figueroa

Farewell BBQ for Elder Figueroa

Elder Figueroa and Elder Olson

Elder Perry, Elder Olson, Elder Theiss

Elder Olson, Elder Theiss, Elder ?, Elder Perry, P-Day Pals

week 89: Darling's Baptism and a Visit to the Ocean

Monday, May 7, 2018

Hey everyone, this is week 6 of change number 14.

So yeah, this week was good, well this week was AWESOME actually. At the beginning of the week we had a service project with a member. It was really just chill,I guess. Just pulled out some grass. I have a little video of me attacking a cactus with a super long spear knife thing. I thought that was pretty cool. And then nothing really happened during the week. 

But on Friday, we had the baptismal interview for Darling. And we have... our district leader right now is in a trio with the Zone Leaders because one of the Elders in our district went home this last week. So we had to go down to Curico to pick him up and take him back up to Licantén. We tried to get them to just send him out by himself, but the mission didn't give us permission. So we went down to pick him up and we got to the Zone Leader's house a little early. They were on their way from an appointment and so since there was nobody there, we were waiting outside for a little while. And we ended up hopping their fence. All of the houses here in Chile have big like metal fences in the front. But the Zone Leader's house doesn't have spikes on one of the parts of the fence. So we jumped the fence right there and we got around back and tried to get in the house but none of the windows or doors were unlocked. So we looked up and on the second story, there was an unlocked window. So I had my companion help boost me up to get into that second story window. So we got into the house and we started hiding their stuff. They have this little like back room in the back yard where they never go. So we went and got their microwave, their iron, their blender, some of their like personal stuff. We grabbed their bikes and we hid it all in the back room. And then we stayed on the side of the house and waited for them to come home and then we heard them come in through the front gate and in through the front door. And they were waiting for us there inside the house. So then we snuck back around the side and opened the front gate and closed it again, like we'd just come in the front gate and we went in the front door. And they didn't notice at first that all these things were gone. Like we'd left cupboards open, like it was super obvious. But their house was pretty messy so they had no idea. And then after about 15 minutes of just talking, one of them notices and says, "Hey, where's the microwave?!" And then they looked and one said, "Oh no, the bikes are gone!" And they started looking everywhere and they can't find stuff and one of them started looking for his camera, which we didn't even hide, but he had just lost it. He's looking all over the house. And he's like, "AW! Where's my Go Pro? Where's my Go Pro?" And one of them had the phone to call the housing coordinators and we go over to open up the back door, and we were like, "Oh, hey, we found the stuff!" And they were like, "What?" And they ran to the back and were getting all their stuff. And it was pretty funny. They totally bought it. And then they still didn't get that it was US that had hidden the stuff. And we were like, "We got here early. We had to sneak in through the side and all that." And they were like, "oh my gosh!" So that was pretty fun. 

So we went up and had the interview with Darling. She was awesome. She had brought her tithing money to the interview. We had specifically told her that she didn't have to start paying tithing until AFTER she was baptized. But she understood the opposite of that. So she was like, "Oh I brought my tithing so that I can be baptized because they told me that I had to pay my tithing before getting baptized." The fact that she was that WILLING to do it was super awesome. She was able to pay it the next day anyway. So that was super cool. The baptism went really well. She asked me to baptize her so that was really cool. We got there early and left the font filling up. And then got to the time of the baptismal service and it was still not quite where it needed to be, so we left it. But then the baptismal service took a little bit longer than we thought, so the font got PRETTY full. It got VERY full. Not quite to the point where it was in danger of overflowing. But when I got in, a little bit splashed out one of the back sides, and we were like "Oh no." Because our font there is very different from any other font. It's like one of the only fonts that can overflow like that. But also, the water heater, well it works, so it was kind of heated, but the water was pretty cold as well. But we did it. It worked out. And she was tough about the cold water. You could hardly even tell. I warned her right before she got in. I was like, "hey, it's pretty cold." 

Oh also, when she was baptized, one of the other Elders from Curico was one of the witnesses, and a bunch of the water splashed out of the font. I tried to let her down extra gently because I knew it was gonna overflow. So just to minimize it, but it still splashed out onto the front onto the carpet a little bit and over the sides. All over the place. But when that happened, a lizard came out of the font. A small one about 4" long. And hahaha, we didn't see it, Darling or I. But the other Elder saw it. He tried to catch it but it ran back into the font and they closed the doors. So that was pretty interesting. Makes me feel like a South American Missionary to say we had a lizard in our baptismal font during the baptism. Then the confirmation went really smoothly as well. The Branch President confirmed her. And it was a really pretty confirmation actually. I really liked it, his blessing that he left her. And then that night we went to their house and we had a lesson planned to teach about temples. And we got there and they had this big BBQ going and they had made a ton of sushi for us. They made a bunch of food. And it was actually a really good opportunity to get Darling's Dad to open up because he's not a member and he hasn't participated in any of the discussions. And he's actually not willing to let Darling's little brother to get baptized. Eventually he's trying to baptize him Catholic. So we are kind of like in a tough spot there. But he really kind of warmed up to us that day so that was really good. 

And then on Monday, on Pday, (I sent you some pictures already), but we went up to the Beach, we explored a little bit and then we played beach soccer for a few hours which was awesome. It was super fun.

So yeah, it's been a pretty good week. We are just here, back home. My companion is getting his stuff all ready. He's going home this next week. On friday we drop him off at the bus terminal and I'll be with Elder Perry. We'll be going back and forth from Curico to Licatén this weekend. And it should be good.

So I just want to express a little bit of my gratitude at being able to participate in that baptism for Darling. Her and her mom really are awesome and I'm grateful to have met them. It makes it worth being out in  Licantén so much time, being able to meet so many, quite a few good people here. And Darling and Pamela, the other girl who was baptized, were really prepared by God. And we didn't have to do hardly anything with them, so I'm really grateful for that. I'm grateful that God guides his work, and I know that he does.

Love you guys. Hope you guys are having a good week. Take care!

Elder Olson

Bushwhacking Service

Darling's Baptism

 So the Zone Leaders played a prank on us when they were in town for the baptism. They went to our apartment at one point and ended up leaving us a little present in our beds. Yes, we knew it was them that left the door open and that they had done something, but we thought it was funny so re-recorded our discovery of it.

Loved seeing the ocean

week 80: By Divine Design

March 5, 2018 (transcription from audio file)

Hola, muy buenas tardes a mi familia y amigos. 

Es la tercera semana del cambio número trece en la misión Chile Rancagua.

(note from Elder Olson's mom: I do not speak Spanish, but I am proud of myself for transcribing what he spoke in Spanish by guessing at what it meant and typing that into google translate...hahaha. So for the rest of you who don't speak Spanish, it says, "Hello. Very good afternoon to my family and friends. It's the third week of transfer number thirteen in the Chile Rancagua Mission)

Hope you guys are all doing well. This week was good. We spent a lot of time on trips to and from Curico to do things for my visa, my companion's visa, for classes and interviews. 

On Wednesday we went down and had district class. After district class we came back up to Licantén and worked for a couple hours. We had an appointment in Hualané with a member who took us out there to visit this inactive member. And so we were going to go visit her and we got there, and she wasn't there. So we were kind of like, shoot, what do we do. And when we were about to leave her house, a recent convert from Santiago, who moved there to Hualané, about a month ago, who we contacted a couple days before, we ran into her on that same street. It turns out she lives right across the street from the inactive member we were there to visit. So we were surprised to see her but pretty excited about that and we were able to go into her house and visit her right away. So that was pretty fun. Well it was really cool that she was right there in the perfect moment.

I think that was probably the theme for this week. It reminds me of the talk by Elder Rasband, By Divine Design, about how there's no such thing as coincidence. We have definitely seen that a lot this week. There have been a lot of perfect little timing things that have worked out in a way that's almost too good to be true. 

So after that, we contacted a couple people, we had a visit we had scheduled, but he wasn't there, and then we had to hurry and catch a bus to Curico to stay the night because the next morning we had to be up bright and early to do stuff for my companion's carnet, which is the Chilean ID. That took ALLLLLL day. It took a really long time. We took turns waiting in the line and while the rest of us went out and got stuff to eat, went to the bathroom. But while I was sitting there, the guy sitting next to me was from Washington, and he was married to a Chilean. So that was kind of cool. Something a little bit different. He was a nice guy. And oh yeah, also during that time, because it was really SOOOOOO long waiting, we went and I bought a new suit, because I had to stay close but I needed to buy a suit. So we took advantage of the time to buy the suit. 

(side note from Elder Olson's mom: he messaged me a couple of weeks ago telling me all his suit pants were completely worn through between the legs...even the ones that had been patched once already. These boys do so so so much walking, and some bike riding, that their suits don't stand a chance. I'm glad he could get a new one.) 

And then on Friday we were down there, we had to sleep down there in Curico again. We got up SUPER early in the morning at like 5 to go do stuff for my carnet. The secretaries had lost a document of mine for the Chilean FBI so we showed up there and got there just in time because there were about 50 Haitians who'd been waiting there all night, getting in line. Because what they do, they only give like 50 slots to people in line. So out of the 50, we got there and we were like 44, and the rest of them had slept the night there outside of the place. So we got there just in time. We got our number when they opened up at 8:30 in the morning. It was really cool because we got there with the ONLY taxi that was working that hour. So that was something pretty cool. Then while we waited we went and got breakfast in the plaza. We saw a member from Alameda, one of my other wards here, and he offered to give us lunch, because we didn't have anywhere to have lunch that day and we had interviews in the afternoon, so that was really nice of him. And so while we waited we found a place to get my suit pants hemmed and then we went all the way back to the Zone Leader's house, showered, changed, and got everything we needed for interviews. Then we went back and we got there EXACTLY...so our number was, we were 44 like I said, and when we got there, they were attending number 43, they were attending the person RIGHT in front of us. So we were really sooooo lucky that we got there right when we did. And part of it that helped was, the colectivo, the taxi driver, he took us all the way to the place. Here it's not the same as a taxi, it's called a Colectivo. They do routes and so where we needed to go was a little bit out of his route, but we were talking to him as we were going and he was nice enough to drop us off exactly where we needed to go. We got in right on time and got it all done. And then the afternoon, with interviews, I had to present on the importance of giving references, obtaining references, passing references, taking care of them once they've been passed...all of that. 

And so that was pretty much our week. It's been a good one. It's been pretty busy but at the same time we haven't been able to work in our sector quite as much as we wanted to. But it's been good.

Hope you all are doing well. We are here, I started recording while we were waiting for lunch, and they've brought us our food. So, thanks for everything. Love you guys. Take care. Bye!

No pictures this week but a video...a glimpse into missionary life, as Elder Olson said.Language Study made fun.

week 79: Lost in the country

February 26, 2018 (transcription from audio file)

Hey everyone, Elder Olson here, this week 2 of transfer 13. 

Alright. So this week has been super good. At the beginning of the week nothing super crazy happened. We had changes here, and everything stays the same for us here in Licantén. Our district, the only person that changed was Elder Crompton left and Elder Rogers followed me down from Rancagua. So it's really cool to see him again. Really cool guy. Love that guy. 

Let's see.

So on Wednesday we had a meeting to set goals and plans as a zone. It's starting to get pretty old...the meeting...after having done it for quite a few changes now. They started it 5 or 6 changes ago. It's super important, but man, I had a hard time staying awake in that one. But it was really good and we as a district set some goals that I think are going to challenge us a lot. But we are already, judging from the first week this transfer, it looks like we are on track to smash our goals this change so I'm pretty excited about that. And then on Friday morning we had to go down to Curico to do stuff for my second Carnet. A Carnet is like the identity you have down here, like the personal id. So I had to get that stuff done because I need a second one so when I go home, they let me on the plane. So yeah, that was good. 

And then that night I had to do a baptismal interview for a couple of Elders in my district. And then the next morning, I had a leadership meeting, so we just stayed there in Curico all that day. We went and got lunch. We went and visited one of my converts, well not my convert, a recent convert from Curico who is a good friend of mine. It was good to see them. So that was cool. And then in the afternoon, we went back over to the house of the Elders down there in Curico to do splits with them. I went in a Trio with Elders Bundy and Moira, the other elders in the district, and we send my companion Elder Hiatt with the Zone leaders for some lessons that they had that day as well. So that was really fun. It was lame to lose a couple days in our sector. I guess it was a day and a half, but still. But it was still really good to be able to do splits with them. And then the baptismal interview, the investigator who was getting baptized, he wasn't able to make it down for the interview at the time that they'd planned, so we had to do it in the morning on the day of his baptism. But that was good. I love being able to participate in baptismal interviews. I think it's really cool to be able to have some one on one time with an investigator who is about to get baptized and hear a little bit more about their conversion and what they, I don't know, what they're going through as they're preparing to be baptized. So that went really well. He was baptized later that night after we left.

After that, we came back up to Hualañé, the other town that's up here by Licantén. In Hualañé, we had a lesson with a really cool Atheist who speaks English. A really good guy. I feel like I've met a lot of people in the mission, just like him. Like everybody who speaks English that I've met is either a Mormon or an Atheist. But it was cool to talk to him, get to know him a little better. He has some pretty different views. 

On Sunday, we had church, and in the third hour of church...so I normally give our class in the second hour, for gospel principles, and then in the third hour we had a combined meeting with the youth, the priesthood and the relief society, talking about an open chapel...kind of chapel tour we do here in the area that we are going to be doing this next month on March 10th. So my companion and I had the chance to present that to the branch. And so that was really good. It's gonna be kind of a different kind of open chapel because we don't have an actual chapel, we have a house, but we are still going to do a little tour, talk about the different organizations, and we're going to have some help from our district. Some missionaries are going to come up to help us out. So it should be fun. It'll be really cool. They responded to it really well. The training went great.

THEN...

We got home from church to find our house flooded. It was full of...well the main room and the kitchen were all just covered with water...the floors and anything that was on the floor. Luckily that wasn't too much stuff. And it had entered into our bedroom and a little bit into our office and it had filled the bathroom as well with water. So we cut the water. Luckily the neighbor wasn't in working that day. They are a dental clinic but they sometimes they take appointments on Sundays as well, but I was really glad they weren't there because the only way to cut our water is to cut their water as well. So we were able to cut the water and dry out all of the house. A flexible tube under the sink had torn while we were at church. I don't know how. I called our Elder's quorum president, who's Pamela's dad (she's the girl who just got baptized). Her dad knows a lot about that kind of stuff. He built his own house and so he was able to help us out with that. That night the owner brought us a replacement part and we put it on. So we got our stuff kind of cleaned out and dried out. Because of all that, we weren't able to make it to our lunch on time, so the Elder's quorum president gave us lunch as well which was nice of him. It was really great.

Then we went out to an appointment with a girl we had named Nurila(sp?). She was somebody that we contacted in the town square here in Licantén a couple days ago, and we set an appointment for Sunday afternoon. She lives about an hour by bus from Licantén. So it was pretty far. But she seemed really receptive. She told us that she was going to invite her family and the people that lived with them to listen as well and we were able to confirm it by phone, so we figured it was worth the effort to make it out there. But we waited for a while to find a bus. The first one passed by and was full. So we got on the second one we found, but that one went to Talca and didn't pass by exactly where we needed to go. Well when we got on, we asked the bus driver and he said it did, but it left us about 6km from where we needed to go. But we weren't sure exactly how far it was. So we started walking. We walked about a mile and decided that we were still pretty far so we'd wait for the bus. So we waited for a while, tried to hitchhike, because it had been a long time. But finally a bus passed and we were able to take it the last 5 minutes on bus to where we needed to go. Then we got there and had a GREAT lesson. She invited her neighbors. Her neighbors had been waiting there, because we got there late (because of the bus), but her neighbors had come over specifically to listen to us and were waiting there for that as well. And she also had some Haitians who lived in her house working for her and her husband. So we had a lesson with her, her neighbors, her daughter, and one of the Haitians. So that was really cool and they received it really well. That whole experience was kind of what I thought the mission would be like...walking for forever in the middle of nowhere to somebody who really wanted to hear the gospel and who was really receptive. And so it was kind of neat to have that experience. So that was really good. The lesson went really well. So we got out and we had a little bit over an hour left before the time we needed to be in the house so we figured we had some time to wait for the bus and then the hour bus ride. Then we waited for the bus for at least an hour that we were standing there. Luckily our Haitian friend who had listened to us...his name is Walter...he came out and stood with us the whole time waiting for the bus. Super nice guy. I got to practice my Creole for a little bit with him because he didn't speak much spanish. Finally, after an hour, at the time we should've been getting in the house, the bus passed by and we took the hour bus ride back to the house, standing up. And then on the ride back, the bus door broke and they had to pull over and the bus door was just stuck open and we were stuck for like ten minutes trying to fix the bus door. But finally they got it kind of fixed. They still had to kind of like lift it and pull it every time they wanted to shut it. But they got it mostly fixed, so we were able to get home, safe and sound. So that was, I don't know, a really cool experience. It was fun ;-)

That's about it for what happened this week. But to give you guys kind of a spiritual thought...I was listening to an old BYU talk by Mark Peterson, I think was his name, about the restoration. And it was really cool to listen to that and think about it and I thought a lot about how we are still IN the restoration, how the restoration is STILL going on. So we have a lot of work to do to get the world ready for the second coming of Christ. It's been cool this week, I've listened to a lot of missionary work themed talks, and a lot have talked about other countries, like China, India, Russia, places where it's been hard to establish the gospel. So it was cool to be able to hear about the miracles that have happened to prepare those places to receive the gospel. And I know that the Lord is guiding this work and he's preparing the whole world to receive the message that we are sharing with the people. 

So, I hope everybody is doing good. Love you guys, take care. Have a nice week. Bye!

Elder Olson

PAMELA's BAPTISM last week.

Pamela, Elder Olson, Elder Hiatt, Elder Bundy, Elder Moira

Waiting for the bus

Mopping up the house

Walking forever and ever